https://www.womenleadersintravel.com/about-accelerate

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2</head><body><div class="about-page-root"><header class="site-header"><div class="container nav-wrap"><a aria-label="Accelerate home" class="brand" href="/"><img alt="Accelerate Women Leaders in Travel" src="/assets/approved-homepage/asset-01-3097de024d51.png"/></a><button aria-controls="about-primary-nav" aria-expanded="false" aria-label="Open navigation" class="nav-toggle"><span></span><span></span><span></span><span class="sr-only">Menu</span></button><nav aria-label="Primary navigation" class="primary-nav" id="about-primary-nav"><div class="nav-group"><a href="/retreats-events">Events</a><button aria-controls="about-retreats-submenu" aria-expanded="false" aria-label="Open Events menu" class="nav-submenu-toggle" type="button"><span aria-hidden="true">⌄</span></button><div class="nav-submenu" id="about-retreats-submenu"><a href="/retreats-events">Events Overview</a><a href="/accelerate-boston">Accelerate Boston</a><a href="/accelerate-flagship">Accelerate Flagship Retreat</a><a href="/accelerate-on-the-move">Accelerate on the Move</a></div></div><div class="nav-group"><a aria-current="page" href="/about-accelerate">About</a><button aria-controls="about-about-submenu" aria-expanded="false" aria-label="Open About menu" class="nav-submenu-toggle" type="button"><span aria-hidden="true">⌄</span></button><div class="nav-submenu" id="about-about-submenu"><a href="/about-accelerate">About Accelerate</a><a href="/about-accelerate/advisory-board">Advisory Board</a></div></div><div class="nav-group"><a href="/partners">Partnerships</a><button aria-controls="about-partners-submenu" aria-expanded="false" aria-label="Open Partnerships menu" class="nav-submenu-toggle" type="button"><span aria-hidden="true">⌄</span></button><div class="nav-submenu" id="about-partners-submenu"><a href="/partners">Partner with Purpose</a><a href="/partners/opportunities">Partnership Opportunities</a><a href="/partners/our-partners">Our Partners</a><a href="/partners/faq">Partner FAQ</a></div></div><a href="/#leadership">Leadership Development</a><a href="/#insights">Insights</a><a class="btn btn-primary nav-cta" href="/accelerate-boston/register">Register</a></nav></div></header><main><section class="about-hero section"><div class="container about-hero-grid"><div class="about-hero-copy"><p class="eyebrow">About Accelerate</p><h1 data-hero-heading="true">Leadership begins with personal <em class="hero-heading-accent">evolution.</em></h1><p class="lead">Accelerate grew from a belief I have come to understand through experience: the way we lead professionally is inseparable from the way we know ourselves and make intentional choices in our lives and work.</p><p>We create thoughtful leadership environments where women in hospitality and travel can step outside the pace of daily responsibility, reflect honestly, build meaningful relationships, and return to their work with greater alignment, agency, and impact.</p><p class="about-hero-signature" aria-label="Rachel Vandenberg">Rachel Vandenberg</p></div><figure class="about-hero-media"><img alt="Rachel Vandenberg, founder of Accelerate Women Leaders in Travel" src="/assets/about-accelerate/rachel-vandenberg-about-hero.jpg"/></figure></div></section><section class="about-problem section"><div class="container about-problem-grid"><div><p class="eyebrow">The Problem I Saw</p><h2>Capable women carry more—and find too little space to examine how they want to lead.</h2></div><div class="about-problem-copy"><p>Across hospitality and travel, I meet women who are deeply committed to their organizations, teams, guests, and communities. They solve complex problems, adapt constantly, and lead through relentless pressure.</p><p>What many lack is not ambition, skill, or potential. They lack intentional space: space to pause, reflect, learn with other women, strengthen their own voice, and explore what might be possible next.</p><blockquote>Accelerate is an answer to that need.</blockquote></div></div></section><section class="about-origin section section-blush"><div class="container"><div class="about-origin-heading"><div><p class="eyebrow">Where It Began</p><h2>A small gathering with a clear purpose.</h2></div><p class="about-date-marker">April 2019 · Stowe, Vermont</p></div><figure class="about-origin-photo"><img alt="The first Accelerate retreat group in Stowe, Vermont, in April 2019" src="/assets/about-accelerate/accelerate-2019.jpg"/><figcaption>The first Accelerate retreat, April 2019, at Sun &amp; Ski Inn &amp; Suites in Vermont.</figcaption></figure><div class="about-origin-copy"><p>A small group of women came together in Stowe for the first Accelerate retreat. The intention was simple: create a different kind of professional gathering—one with room for honest conversation, practical leadership growth, and connection that reached beyond exchanging business cards.</p><p>That first gathering confirmed what I believed: when women are given a thoughtful environment and permission to engage fully, insight becomes action and relationships become a source of courage.</p></div></div></section><section class="about-coaching section section-sand"><div class="container about-coaching-grid"><figure class="about-coaching-photo"><img alt="Rachel Vandenberg facilitating an early Accelerate leadership session" src="/assets/about-accelerate/rachel-facilitating-2019.jpg"/></figure><div class="about-coaching-copy"><p class="eyebrow">My Coaching Journey</p><blockquote>Coaching changed how I listen, question, and lead.</blockquote><p>Coaching gave me language and structure for something I had been learning throughout my own career: leadership is not a finished identity. It is a practice shaped by reflection, choice, relationships, and the willingness to keep evolving.</p><p>

2I bring three active perspectives to this work. As a hospitality owner, I understand the responsibility of building a business and caring for the people within it. Through frontline work in travel, I remain close to the human experience of service, systems, and constant change. Through Accelerate, I facilitate leadership growth while continuing to learn alongside the women who enter the room.</p><p>My role is not to prescribe a formula. It is to ask meaningful questions, create the conditions for insight, and help women strengthen their trust in what they already know—and in what they are ready to practice next.</p></div></div></section><section class="about-platform section"><div class="container about-platform-grid"><div class="about-platform-intro"><p class="eyebrow">What Accelerate Has Become</p><h2>From one retreat to a connected leadership platform.</h2><p class="lead-sm">Accelerate has grown in response to what women and organizations continue to ask for: deeper reflection, sustained practice, trusted relationships, and leadership development that carries into real work.</p></div><div class="about-platform-side"><blockquote class="about-platform-quote">We facilitate connection and cultivate agency—so women leaders in travel can shape their careers, lead with conviction, and build lives that feel as powerful as they look.</blockquote><div class="about-platform-signature"><strong>Rachel Vandenberg</strong><span>Founder, Accelerate Women Leaders in Travel</span></div><ol class="about-platform-sequence"><li><strong>Retreats</strong></li><li><strong>Leadership Cohorts</strong></li><li><strong>Coaching</strong></li><li><strong>Industry Partnerships</strong></li></ol></div></div></section><section class="about-difference section section-plum"><div class="container about-difference-grid"><div><p class="eyebrow">What Makes Us Different</p><h2>Accelerate is not about fixing women or prescribing a single model of leadership.</h2></div><div class="about-difference-copy"><p>Women do not need to become more like one another to lead well. They need opportunities to understand their values, recognize their patterns, strengthen their voice, and make choices that reflect who they are and the impact they want to have.</p><p>Our work combines emotionally intelligent leadership development with practical application. Reflection leads to practice. Conversation creates insight. Insight becomes intentional action. The result is growth that is personal without losing professional rigor—and ambitious without asking women to abandon their wholeness.</p></div></div></section><section class="about-impact section section-blush"><div class="container about-impact-layout"><div class="about-impact-content"><p class="eyebrow">The Impact</p><div class="about-impact-shift"><span>Leading under pressure</span><b aria-hidden="true">→</b><span>Leading with conviction</span></div><div class="about-impact-copy"><p>When women understand their values, trust their own voices, and have trusted relationships around them, they make better decisions.</p><p>They communicate with greater clarity, move through complexity with more intention, and contribute to organizations and communities in ways that are both more effective and more sustainable.</p></div></div><figure class="about-impact-photo"><img alt="Women connecting during an Accelerate leadership gathering" src="/assets/about-accelerate/accelerate-impact-group.jpg"/></figure></div></section></main><footer class="footer"><div class="container"><div class="footer-grid"><div><img alt="Accelerate Women Leaders in Travel" src="/assets/approved-homepage/asset-01-3097de024d51.png"/><p>Transformative leadership experiences for women in hospitality and travel.</p></div><div><strong>Explore</strong><a href="/retreats-events">Retreats &amp; Events</a><a href="/about-accelerate">About</a><a href="/#leadership">Leadership Development</a></div><div><strong>Connect</strong><a href="/#partners">Sponsors &amp; Partners</a><a href="/#newsletter">Newsletter</a><a href="/accelerate-boston/register">Register</a></div></div><div class="footer-bottom">© 2026 Accelerate Women Leaders in Travel</div></div></footer></div>

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